


Some may call it fate

by Phoebmonster



Category: Wynonna Earp (TV)
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe - No Curse, F/F, Fluff, Meet-Cute, good if you like trams?, its just pure fluff, soul mates kind of??
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-30
Updated: 2018-06-30
Packaged: 2019-05-31 06:54:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,015
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15114122
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Phoebmonster/pseuds/Phoebmonster
Summary: One rainy morning, Nicole and Waverly meet. This is how they find their way back to each other.





	Some may call it fate

**Author's Note:**

> okay so i'm sure other cities have this, but the evening standard in london has a lil section where people on the tube can write messages to people they think are cute? and i think this is the cutest? so pls enjoy this au based only on this idea lol
> 
> it's also a tram system over a train because i love trams. fight me.

It had not been Nicole's morning. She'd forgotten to set an alarm the previous night and woke with a start, twenty minutes late, hadn’t had the time to make breakfast and then missed her tram. It was also raining so hard she could barely see, soaking through her hoodie and slicking her hair flat to her scalp. Nicole shivered.  
Out of the deluge, the next tram appeared, and Nicole stuck out her arm as it screeched to a halt in front of her. Almost everyone on the carriage was equally wet, with middle aged men in suits angrily reading damp newspapers and college students looking dejectedly on their phones. 

One girl stood out. She was wearing a bright raincoat, a brilliant yellow against the dirty grey of the seats. Her hair was braided over one shoulder and she was focused on her phone, gently biting her lip. Nicole looked away quickly. When she looked up, the girl was looking at her. She looked at her lap again, feeling a blush rise in her cheeks at the embarrassment of being caught. When she looked up, the girl was looking down, but smiling. 

Suddenly, Nicole realised the tram had reached her destination - she leapt to her feet and jumped from the platform just as it began to move away, and ran up the road into the coffee slash bookshop where she worked.

The shop was small but cosy, with almost every wall covered from floor to ceiling in dark wood bookshelves, filled with books about every subject imaginable. Only the wall behind the counter was bare, instead covered with a large chalkboard onto which the daily specials were written. The counter itself was the same wood as the bookshelves, with a curved glass covering a selection of baked goods, the smell of which always made the redhead drool. Plants covered every free space, nestled in between the slightly sagging sofas, mismatched chairs and low tables.

"What happened to you?" said Shae from behind the counter, who was the confusing combination of her friend, co-worker, ex-girlfriend and ex-wife-because-we-got-married-in-Vegas. Nicole just shook her head, reaching behind the counter to grab her apron and stuff a pastry into her mouth.

//

Waverly jumped off the tram, hood shielding her from the downpour. She looked up and grinned, as she did every day, at the weathered sign that proclaimed the building in front of her the Earp Confectioners. The sweet shop had been in her family since the great wild west sheriff Wyatt Earp had decided to retire from shooting criminals by establishing a shop, making and selling hard candy. The inside had hardly changed from the 1850s – tall shelves held jars and jars of sweets in every shape and flavour imaginable – sherbets, toffees, chocolate mice, strawberry laces, and gobstoppers in every size from marbles to tennis ball. The back room was visible from the front, allowing customers to peer in and see the candy being rolled on large marble counters or pulled on a hook. The only change was the modern till and the flyers stuck in the window, advertising how the shop could provide candy for any occasions.

She fiddled with the key and pushed the creaking door open.

"Waverly!" came a voice from the back.  
She looked through, to see her sister sitting on the counter-top, eating a slice of toast. Wynonna lived above the shop, but Waverly was still surprised to see she was awake and at work on time. "Dolls wants to make a new flavour today. He thinks he's cracked blue raspberry." Her burly candy maker, Xavier Dolls, looked up from the huge vat of molten sugar and gave her a grin.

"Go ahead." Waverly said, with a wave of her hand. "Where's Doc? There's a wedding later and I need him to make the delivery."  
Just as she finished her sentence, the bell above the door jangled, and in stepped Doc. He shrugged of his coat and brushed the water from his hat.

"Good mornin' ladies." He said with a smirk. His eyes hardened as he looked over to the sugar vat. "Xavier." He said, with a curt nod.

"Henry." Dolls shot back, equally cold.

"Geez, guys, stop flirting." Wynonna said with a groan, jumping from the counter and leading Waverly by the arm into onto the shop floor. "Can't stand the testosterone in there."  
Waverly sighed. "Let's just open up." 

By eleven, there was a lull in customers, and the youngest Earp was pouring over their delivery receipts when Wynonna sidled up next to her.  
"What's up?" She said, bumping her with her hip.

"Nothing. You saw me yesterday, you know everything." She said absentmindedly.

"Nothing new? No life changing events since I saw you like ... 14 hours ago?"

"Nope." Waverly said, lightly chewing the end of her pencil. "Only two things happened - I finished my book on Sumerian runes and I saw a pretty girl on the tram this morning."  
Wynonna wiggled her eyebrows. "Really? What did she look like?"

"Tall, red hair. Cute Doc Martens." She said, still not looking up. Had she done so, she would have seen Wynonna's mischievous grin.

///

(Two Days later)

"What the hell is this!"  
Waverly stormed into the shop and slammed the newspaper, the Ghost River Post, onto the slab of marble that Dolls used to cool the candy on.  
Wynonna looked up innocently, a piece of toast hanging from her mouth, and Dolls turned around quickly.

"What?" He said.

"Read the first post in the 'Spotted on the Trams' section." Waverly nearly spat, glaring at her sister. 

Dolls picked up the paper, flipping to the page. He raised his eyebrows.  
"To the red head with the docs - I want to make you as wet as the rain did - uh - winky face - from an admirer - uh - kiss kiss." 

Silence fell on the group, as Dolls looked between the sisters. 

"You did this!" said Waverly, with a squeak of indignation, pointing at her sister.

"How do you know she doesn't have another admirer?" Wynonna said weakly, wilting under the glare of her kid sister. "Fine! It was me. But only because I'm your wing-woman Waves."

"You don't get to decide who I date!" Waverly said, voice rising. "And especially not if it’s a woman I made eye contact with once on public transport!"  
Doc choose that moment to make his entrance.

"Mornin', ladies." He said with a flourish of his hat, quickly stepping backwards as Waverly wheeled round to glare at him.

"You're late!" was all she could muster before she snatched the paper from Dolls and stomped back to the shop floor. 

///

Nicole poured herself a coffee and drank it in almost one gulp. She'd had to run for the tram again that morning, and the rush of commuters desperate for their morning caffeine hit never seemed to end. Shae was on her break, sat on a small stool behind the counter so she couldn't be seen by customers. She looked up from the newspaper when she heard Nicole reach for another cup.

"You better slow down. You know too much makes you jittery."

Nicole groaned. "Yeah, I know. Just not sleeping properly, this new place has a bed that I'm sure is meant for someone like... two feet shorter than me."  
Shae laughed. She turned over the page, eyebrow raising as she scanned the page.

"Hey, were you wearing your docs on Wednesday?" 

Nicole could only nod, her mouth full of the blueberry muffin that was her breakfast.

"You got spotted on the tram then!" Shae read out the message. Nicole blushed as she heard it, suddenly remembering the girl in the yellow raincoat that morning. "Any idea who it could be from?" 

Nicole shook her head. "Probably some creepy man on his way to work."

"Will you write back?"

Nicole shook her head again, sighing. But, then again ...  
"There was a girl." She said quietly. "We made eye contact. But I doubt it was her."

Shae grinned, her eye's sparkling. "But what if it was! This could be true love!" She looked down again at the article. "Or maybe you can just get laid. It is pretty forward."  
Nicole's blush darkened. The door opened, signally another customer, and she turned back to the counter. 

"I'll email the paper tonight." She said quietly, seeing Shae's grin widen out of the corner of her eye.

///

It was Monday, and Waverly sank into the seat of the tram. Sunday was her only day off, but she'd had to spend it packaging up strawberry drops and pink bon bons for a wedding that Doc had to deliver to early that morning. She sat up straighter and pulled the newspaper out from behind her, where it had been thrown haphazardly. The news was always the same in Ghost River City, and Waverly was not surprised to read another headline about road resurfacing. She flicked through, past the articles on the fight to prevent the library closures and a fluff piece on a new vegan restaurant that was opening, stopping on the page with the 'Spotted on the Trams' section. Curiosity overtook her as she read each tiny declaration of fleeting love. Her heart skipped a beat as she read the final one.

"To the girl in the yellow raincoat,  
I hope you were my admirer last week. Tell me your name next time I see you and we can go for a drink?  
the redhead with the boots xxx"  
It was impossible to hide her smile then, as Waverly felt her whole body grow warm.

Around midday, Wynonna approached the till where Waverly sat, ticking off orders.  
"Guess it wasn't such a bad idea after all." She said smugly, waving the paper at her younger sister. Waverly rolled her eyes.

"I'm not going to thank you." She said, but her smile was all Wynonna needed.

///

Nicole spent the next week feeling ridiculously nervous every time she stepped onto the tram, but every time feeling disappointed that she didn't see the girl in the raincoat. She'd even kept wearing her boots, in some vague attempt to recreate their first encounter.  
On Friday, she sat, dejectedly, eyes hovering over the people in the carriage, knowing that none of the were the person she wanted to see. Suddenly, she felt a tap on her knee. An elderly man opposite her smiled. "Sorry to disturb you, but if you're the redhead with the boots, the girl in the yellow raincoat is in the other carriage."  
Nicole sat up, looking through the window that separated the carriages and to see a flash of yellow. Unfortunately, there was no way to get from one carriage to another without first departing the tram. The man saw the look of desperation on her face and patted her knee again. "Better luck next time, lass."

///

It was pouring with rain when Nicole locked up for the night. Nedley, her boss, had let Shae go early so she could get to her seminar, which meant Nicole had to close alone, which always took longer. She made her way to the tram stop, boots disturbing the ribbons of light reflected by the puddles. The tram was thankfully there on time, and she hopped on.  
Her heart seemed to stand still as she saw the yellow raincoat. The girl noticed her at the same time, staring at her with wide eyes. Two women sat either side of her, and Nicole froze, at a loss of what to do. One of the women clocked that Nicole was standing there, dumbfounded, and quickly gathered her things and moved to sit on the other side of the carriage, giving both girls a knowing smile.

Nicole sat down. The girl was so pretty. 

"I'm Waverly." She said in a small voice.

"Nicole." She stuck out her arm and they shook hands. Nicole knew she should say something, anything, but her brain was currently a war zone, one pointing out all the flaws in her potential greetings and the other just a stream of exclamation marks. Suddenly, the girl, Waverly, stood up, holding the box that had been on her lap with a tight grip. "Shit! I - I have to go." The tram stopped again, and the girl disappeared into the night.  
Nicole sat, speechless. Then she dropped her head back and groaned.

///

Waverly sat on the tram again, later that night. She'd had to deliver a huge order of specially made hard candy to a knitting and fabric shop that was having its grand re-opening the next morning. The delivery had passed in a blur, as the only thing on her mind was the redhead. She couldn't describe how she felt, she doubted anyone had words for how she felt. It had felt like they were connected in some way, bound together - Waverly shook her head. She'd only spoken two words to the girl. Nicole, she thought. Nicole.  
The name felt like a light in her heart, and, for the first time, she didn't mind the dark and windy walk home.

///

"I shook her hand." moaned Nicole, dropping her head onto the counter as Shae slid a coffee and a raspberry danish towards her. "Who shake's a girl’s hand? She was so pretty ..." To stop herself from rambling further, she stuffed half of the pastry into her mouth.

Shae smiled sympathetically. "I'm sure it wasn't that bad."

"She got off straight away!" Nicole said, mouth still full.

"I doubt it was because of you." She said, gently patting her arm. Nedley appeared from the kitchen, carrying a tray of cookies. 

"What's this?" He said, gruffly.

"She met the girl on the tram." Shae supplied, with Nicole only nodding sadly. "She did get her name at least."

"Waverly." Nicole supplied, taking another bite of her pastry.

"Oh. I know a Waverly." Nedley said, absentmindedly. "She owns the sweet shop down the road."  
The girls exchanged a confused look.

Shae turned to her boss. "What does she look like?"

"Uh, shorter, brown hair, always braided." He said, clearly more focused on placing the cookies neatly in the display case.  
Nicole's eyes widened and she swallowed audibly.

"That does sound like her." said Shae, turning to her friend. "You've gotta go down there!"

"Oh, no need." said Nedley as Nicole stuffed the last of the pastry into her mouth. "She's coming her later."  
A lot happened at once then. Nicole choked on her pastry, grasping at her coffee, and Shae let out a yelp.

"Here??" said Nicole as soon as her throat had cleared. 

"I thought we could sell hard candy too." He said with a shrug.

"When??" said Shae.

"Oh, sometime before we close."

The bell rung and a customer appeared at the counter. Shae turned to Nicole, who was coughing violently.  
"Black coffee." said a young man, not looking up from his phone.  
Shae pushed Nicole towards the back room. "I'll make it! Go brush your hair." She hissed.

They waited in a state of intense anticipation until 4, when Nedley poked his head out from the back room. "Oh, Waverly's not coming. She's busy, she said she'll come next week."

Nicole groaned. This girl was definitely going to be the death of her.

///

Another week passed, and Waverly was beginning to think the idea of destiny was a sham. She still hadn't seen Nicole since they'd met for the first time, and she had to deal with Wynonna asking her everyday if they had. They’d also been exceedingly busy (apparently every eight year old in Ghost River City had a birthday in January and needed armfuls of sweets to celebrate), so Waverly hadn’t had time to go see the manager of the coffee shop she was going to start supplying to until nearly 6 on the Friday evening.  
Waverly balanced her box of candy samples on her hip and pushed open the door.

"Sorry, we're closing." Came a voice from behind the counter. Waverly gasped.  
She saw Nicole turn and her eyes widen. Destiny suddenly seemed back on the cards. 

Waverly squeaked. "I'm just here to see Nedley. About sweets. But I can go -"

"No - no wait, don't worry." Nicole said quickly. "He said someone was coming. But he had to go home, his daughter needed help with her plumbing."  
Both stood in silence for a second, before the bottom on Waverly's box gave way and bags of sweets were scattered all over Nicole's freshly mopped floors.  
The redhead quickly came out from behind the counter and both knelt down, picking up the bags. Waverly began to giggle and Nicole couldn't help but laugh too.

"How does this keep happening?" Waverly almost whispered.  
Nicole looked up, and their eyes met. Both girls smiled gently.

"Would it be totally cheesy if I said fate?" Nicole said quietly.  
Years later, they would argue about who leant in first. Their lips met, Waverly tangling her hands in the short red hair and Nicole reached out to pull Waverly closer to her. It was as though the outside world had melted away, only two people, crashing together like stars, something so bright and brilliant being created between them. The broke apart suddenly when the bell above the door rang.

"We're not open!" Nicole practically screeched. The confused business man in the doorway looked around, at the dimly lit cafe, with two girls kneeling on the floor, surrounded by packets of sweets. He slowly backed out.  
Nicole stood up, stomping towards the door, locking it forcefully and turning over the sign so it read "Closed."  
She turned back to Waverly, who was sat on the floor, blushing deeply.  
"Sorry." said Nicole sheepishly. The youngest Earp only smiled. 

"I've never done that before." She said, almost to herself. 

"Kissed a girl you just met?" 

"Kissed a girl." Waverly said, and as she looked up, Nicole felt almost faint.

"Was it a mistake?" She whispered.

Waverly shook her head with a soft smile. "Never."  
They sat on the floor all night, talking about their whole lives and yet nothing at all, not letting go of each other’s hands until the sun rose.

**Author's Note:**

> also yes everyone in this city reads the newspaper and also ships wayhaught. its a Fact. and if any Americans are confused, I've used exclusively british sweets because frankly i think our sweet shops are better. fight me (again.)
> 
> like,, i know i could extend this au but should I? what would even happen? comment if you want more pls


End file.
